Always In The Heart
by Madman007
Summary: A few days after the events of For The Girl Who Has Everything, Kara Danvers, aka Supergirl, gets ready for bed when she gets a text from Clark Kent.


**Always In The Heart**

* * *

Kara saw the blinking light on her laptop that indicated she had a message. She groaned a little as she was just about to hit the hay, as her sister, Alex, calls going to bed. She sat down at the table where her computer was and clicked on the message. Her face brightened because of who it was who texted her. Superman himself. Or as she prefers to call him, her younger cousin.

She clicked on the chatroom where he was. Apparently, he wanted to talk about what had happened to her the other day. She placed her hand on her chest where that creature held on to her. The pain of it was going away. The memories it forced upon her would be with her for much longer.

Immediately upon entering the room, she saw the words go across the screen.

Clark typed, "Hello, cousin."

Kara replied back, "Hey, Kal-El. I mean Clark."

"Clark is probably safer. I've secured this chatroom fairly well. Still, I don't trust the Internet."

Kara decided to be coy. She was between wanting to talk to her cousin and never talking about what happened. "Did you need something?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing. Jimmy called me. He told me what happened to you the other day."

"Oh, that. I'm fine. It was nothing."

"Did you know that there are several ways that I can tell when a human lies to me? There are even more ways when I can tell a fellow Kryptonian lies to me, too."

Kara figured she couldn't sneak a lie past Superman. "Guilty. Honestly, I'm so far from fine."

"I know. Jimmy skimmed over the details. I understand that condolences are in order. Losing a family member can be devastating."

Kara frowned. How was she going to reply? Her confusion about her aunt still lingered even after her death. She finally typed, "Astra is no longer my aunt."

"Yes, she is. And she always will be. Family knows no boundaries, Kara. Enemies. Friends. Family blood doesn't know the difference."

"When did you get so philosophical?"

"I've lived here on Earth longer than you."

"And to think I'm actually your OLDER cousin."

"Much older. In fact, because of your time in the Phantom Zone for all those years, your physical age here is closer to 50."

Kara grimaced. "Thanks, I really needed to hear that, cuz."

"Sorry."

"What exactly did Jimmy tell you about the other day?"

"He told me that it was Black Mercy."

Kara was surprised to see that Superman mentioned the creature by name. "You've heard of it?"

"Only rumors. Until now. He said you were in a dream state on Krypton."

"Not just Krypton, Clark. I was on a Krypton that hadn't been destroyed."

"I cannot imagine what that was like."

"It was like having your perfect life become reality and then taken away. Again."

"Kara, you should know by now that there is no such thing as a perfect life."

Kara sighed and typed, "I know that now. But when that creature made me believe that it was real..." She stopped typing and thought to herself. Then she typed, "I don't know what I felt."

"You thought you could live there forever."

"Yes. Clark, it was so real. The sounds. The smells. The memories. I even saw a crack in a table that I made when I was very young."

"All of which were deep in your subconscious mind."

"I guess. Clark, I saw my mother and father. I could touch them. And I saw you."

"Me?"

"I saw you as if you never went to Earth. You were growing up on Krypton. You were so cheerful and kind."

"That should have been your first clue that it wasn't real."

Kara snickered and typed, "Come to think of it, I did used to think that you might have been a brat at that age."

"I wasn't too bad."

Kara went back to her dream that she would remember for the rest of her life. "Clark, I saw everything that Krypton should have been. But my sister helped me see that it wasn't real. She saved me."

"And that's what family does, Kara. You know that you have an advantage over me, cousin."

Kara raised her eyebrows. "I have an advantage over Superman?"

"Yes," he typed. His added response came after a long pause. "I never had those memories of Krypton the way you do."

"But don't you have that ice palace somewhere that has the ice cubes with memories of Krypton? Kinda like the ones you gave to the DEO. I meant to thank you for those."

"You're welcome. And it's my fortress of solitude. And they're called memory crystals."

She felt embarrassed as she typed a quick, "Oh."

"But those are mirror images of memories, Kara. You have true memories of Krypton that I will never have. I gave those crystals to the DEO because I wanted you to have some semblance of home."

"Wow. You know, you write so well. You should become a writer." She added a smiley.

"Ha. Ha. I'm already a reporter."

"You're much more than that, Clark."

"And you are more than Cat Grant's assistant. ' _This above all: to thine ownself_ _be true'"_

Kara thought for a moment and then typed the question, "Did you just quote Shakespeare? I believe that might be a surreal moment to hear Superman quote the Bard."

"Yes, it might. I read _Hamlet_ in high school."

"You are so much like your mother. She read alot, too."

"When did you meet my mother, Martha?"

Kara smiled as she corrected him. "No, Clark. I meant Lara Van-El, your mother on Krypton. I met her a few times when I was younger."

"Which is something else that you have done that I can never do."

Kara thought of her mother in her own memory and not the fake one that the creature gave her. She replied back, "Hey, I can never see my mother again, either. In physical form, anyway. I will say one thing about my experience with Black Mercy. I could hug my mother. It felt so real. Clark, in my dream I remember that I told my mother that Krypton will always be in my heart. Do you feel that?"

"I don't, Kara. With all due respect, you are wrong."

"What? The great Superman is telling me that I'm wrong? That was sarcasm, btw."

"I got it. What I meant was that your memories of Krypton will always only be memories. The friends and family you have here on Earth are in your heart. I had that with my parents who raised me here. That is special, Kara. I hope you realize that."

" I do," typed Kara as she thought of her sister.

"You've heard the Earth expression, home is where the heart is?"

"I have."

"That's where you keep the people you love. In your heart. The memories of Krypton are inside your head. It's a place that's long gone now. It can't love you back. Those memories of Krypton are dreams of the past. And that's what they will always be. And that's where they'll stay. In your dreams. Your family on Earth and on Krypton; Eliza, your mother here. Alex, your sister. Your friends. And especially, your mother and father on Krypton. They will always be in your heart. Their love for you will always be real."

Kara stared at the words Clark typed. Was it that simple to figure out? For the past few days since Black Mercy had attacked her, she fought the balance between what was real and what was imaginary. She told her friends and family that she knew the difference. She still had her doubts. Until Superman told her straight. It was all in her head.

She always knew that ever since she came to Earth that she would relate to her cousin. She now realized what an inspiration he is to her. A super man, indeed.

She suddenly saw new words on the screen. "Kara? Are you there?"

"Yes. Sorry, I had something in my eye. You may be younger than me, cousin, but you have a wisdom beyond all of my years. Thank you."

"Anytime. Look, it's getting late. I have an early flight tomorrow."

"You mean...flight, flight?"

"No, an actual jet flight. There's a possible story for work."

"Where you going?"

"A city called Gotham. Some vigilante has been creating his own sense of justice for decades there. And get this...he dresses up like a bat."

Kara made a face and typed, "A bat? That's weird."

"Tell me about it."

"I think you could take him on."

"I'm hoping it doesn't come to that."

"You would say that. Good luck with the story. I have to get to bed too. I have to face Cat in the morning."

"Lois has told me that she can be a handful. And that is coming from Lois Lane."

"Cat's a tornado on the outside. She does has a soft spot deep, deep inside her."

"Don't we all?"

"Well, thanks for the talk, Clark. I can't tell you how much I needed it. Especially from you."

"I will always be here if you need me. We are each others only true family now."

"Sorry, Superman, but you're wrong."

"What? The great Supergirl is telling Superman he's wrong?"

"Yep. We just happen to be the only two related Kryptonians left. We each have plenty of family here."

"See? You also have a wisdom just right for your fifty years of age."

"And now I want to hit you."

"Come now, Kara. You know how I hate violence. Have a good night, Kara."

"Good night...Kal-El. As we used to say on Krypton, nahkluv."

"You're welcome, Kara Zor-El." He logged off.

Kara went to bed that night with a sense of happiness that had been missing in the last few days.

THE END.


End file.
